At Ponsonby Kindergarten we find nature and the events it presents us are the best education tool. Just before Christmas a fledgling tauhou (silvereye/waxeye) was found on the footpath outside kindergarten. We brought it inside and placed it on a tree branch but it was too little and the wind too strong for it to stay in the tree. We created a safe area on the ground for it to hide from the wind.

Tamariki asked lots of questions about the situation and after research we decided it was best to leave it on the ground with it’s parents to care for it. We left it overnight with a box for it to shelter in.

Tamariki named the baby bird Feathers and we were all pleased to find Feathers alive each morning and being fed by it’s parents. Feathers stayed on the ground for the next few days due to the high winds, with us watching to see if it was being feed regularly by it’s parents. Often both parents visited together with beaks full of bugs.

Feathers stayed on the ground for three windy days and one morning we came in and it had disappeared. It had been beginning to fly the day before so we hope it was able to return to it’s nest somewhere in our giant oak tree.

The experience was like a live movie, with children watching it on and off all day and letting us know if it did anything different like climb through the fence back to the footpath. During this time we learnt a lot about tauhou including that the male bird has the darker almost orange/brown feathers on it’s chest. The fledgling was being feed all sorts of insects by it’s parents, including large spiders.

This was a special opportunity for tamariki to learn more about the birds that visit our environment and have a chance to observe it while ensuring it’s parent’s felt safe to still care for it. As they sat and watched the tauhou they observed other birds feeding in the tree.

We are proud to have created an environment that allows birds and other creatures to visit and that provides so many opportunities for further learning.